My wife isn't supportive of my sobriety and I don't know what to do about it. I feel like it might be a big enough problem to try couples therapy. How should I navigate this?

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Be prepared to lose whatever you put before sobriety. This situation will sort itself out, one way or another, stsying sober os the only way it will work out for the best.

I became a "dry drunk" relatively early in our relationship, stopped going to meetings, moved away from my support group, and I made my family my higher power. Fast-forward a few years, thank God I didn't drink, but I was miserable. Our marriage was on the rocks, and when I was forced out of my dream job, I had a moment of clarity and knew that it was time to get back into AA.

Home life hadn't changed any yet, and now I was gone to meetings all the time. My non-alcoholic wife, who has never seen me drink, got jealous and was very resistant to me diving back into AA. I got the stink eye every time I left for a meeting. There was a point where the relationship got even worse for it, and I had a very real sense that I was about to get a divorce. As the big book says, "Job or no job, wife or no wife..."

I knew I had to stick with it, or I was going to drink or blow my brains out, so I persisted. Two years later and our marriage is on the mend, and I make three regular meetings every week without any slack whatsoever. Dare I say she's beginning to become supportive now that she is seeing a little change in my attitude and behavior.

I also know several people who's marriage didn't survive, yet they stayed sober through it all.

likehelpful

I dealt with this some years ago, one of the times I tried to get sober. I knew I had a problem for years. But I finally read the twelve steps on my own (no AA program) and determined I was officially willing to call myself an alcoholic. I went sober for 8 months (which wasn't fun, see: no program) but I heard from my partner and everyone around me that I'm fine, I just need to learn buzz management. Eventually I gave in, I don't blame them really, but I do blame myself for not taking it seriously enough that I knew I had a problem and to get help another way. I went on drinking hard for another 9 years and bad things happened until I hit bottom and found AA. The point is, don't let the lack of support be a reason you lose sight of priority #1, you staying sober. And you do that by making sure your support comes from AA and not from your wife. The chips will fall where they may with your relationship.

likehelpful

D1 oh sorry I didn't mean to offend you. Honestly I partially ended things because I knew if he tried to give me a drink or drugs I wouldn't have it in me to say no to him so I needed him completely out of my life. I don't know what the future holds but I realized I'd rather be alone than with someone who doesn't care about me or who treats me badly. In his case he was actually a really sweet guy but he was really caught up in his own addiction and not ready to stop, and I couldn't follow him down that hole anymore.

Not supportive how? Is she in the midst of addiction herself? I had to end a relationship because he was drinking and using 24/7 and I knew I couldn't stay sober with him. Or is she maybe feeling neglected by your new Program and friends.

If I had to guess, her relationship with alcohol makes her uncomfortable but not uncomfortable enough to change. She constantly says things to me like "you don't have a drinking problem" or "you can have one, it's fine" or "we're about to go on vacation, are you gonna be drinking?"

I think couples therapy sounds like a good idea if you aren't feeling supported. You should try bringing it up to her and tell her why you want to go to therapy, a lot of couples go and it's not something to feel bad about. Hopefully you guys will be able to navigate through why she isn't supporting you and what changes you need to feel supported.

Would she be willing to go to an Open AA meeting with you? That might be a very helpful experience.

Also, how long have you been sober? Early sobriety is such a weird time for everyone involved.

Sobriety and recovery are about change; I’m changing my behaviors and ultimately who I am. Even that statement is a bit misleading; I’m changing who I “wasn’t” and becoming more of my true self. Sometimes that leads to beautiful things in relationships and brings people closer, and sometimes the relationship doesn’t survive if both people can’t or won’t evolve with the change.

Lastly, it can be so confusing when someone we trust and/or love tells us we don’t have a problem with drinking. Sometimes they just don’t know how bad it is, or they have their own ulterior motive, but one thing they never know is what it feels like on the inside to suffer from this disease. Trust what brought you to recovery in the first place and trust that things work out how they’re supposed to in the end (so long as we do our best to “do the next right thing”.).

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